To Turn the Tide
by MileyLoonaticsFan96
Summary: When a new web show is started in Seattle, Twin Scene, the iCarly gang goes to meet them...and gets roped into the biggest adventure of their lives. What's going to happen when magic gets involved?
1. Twin Time

To Turn the Tide

Chapter 1: Twin Time

In Seattle, Washington, in an apartment, a man with brown hair was making a sculpture out of toothpicks and jelly beans.

In came a brunette boy of about 14 and a blonde girl who was about the same age as him.

"Hey, Spencer," said the brunette boy, "Where's Carly?"

"Upstairs," said Spencer, "She's getting ready for the show."

"Well, we just came to tell her we need to start the show in a few minutes," said the blonde girl. She then noticed Spencer's oddly shaped construction. "What's that?"

"Oh, I'm doing a sculpture for the new science museum that just opened downtown," said Spencer, "This is for the anatomy section. It's going to be a human brain."

"Why are you using jelly beans instead of marshmallows?" asked the brunette boy.

"Because I didn't have time to go out and buy marshmallows," said Spencer, "And Carly and I agree that we don't want to eat these jelly beans."

"Why not?" asked the blonde girl.

"They're starting to go bad," said Spencer, "So I am going to use them to hold the toothpicks together while they're still sticky."

"Well, we'll just go up to see Carly," said the brunette boy.

"Aw, can't wait to see your 'girlfriend'?" asked the blonde girl.

"I'm over Carly now, Samantha!" the boy snapped.

"Whatever, Fredward!"

The 2 stuck their tongues out at each other and went up the stairs. They met a brunette girl in a "studio" on the next floor. She was on the computer (not literally, but you know what I mean).

"Hey, Carly," said Freddie, "You ready to start the show?"

"Yeah, almost," said Carly, "I'm just checking out this cool new site I found. Apparently, we've got some competition here in Seattle."

"Really, who are they?" asked Sam.

"I don't know exactly, but they go to a school on the other side of town from ours," said Carly, "Sunset Valley High?"

"Yeah, I've heard of that place," said Freddie.

"They're really good, I'll admit," said Carly.

"Well, we can watch them later," said Sam, "We've gotta start the show."

"No, we've still got time," corrected Freddie.

"In that case," said Sam, "Make some room and let me watch." She went over to the computer and Freddie stood next to her. They all had a clear view of the monitor.

The web site's home page was arranged so that practically every button was a different color. When Carly clicked on a link to a "Video Highlight," 2 teenage girls who looked almost exactly alike appeared on the screen.

"Hi, I'm Whitney!" said one girl.

"And I'm Hilary!" said the other girl.

"And this is the first episode of…" Whitney picked up a remote (a lot like the one Sam liked using on iCarly) and hit a button, making a flashy graphic appear at the bottom of the screen that kept changing colors reading:

"Twin Scene!" said both girls.

Whitney hit the button again and the graphic disappeared. She put the remote on a table next to where she was standing. "OK, this show is going to razzle you."

"And dazzle you," said Hilary.

"And knock your shoes off!"

Hilary stopped smiling. "Don't you mean 'socks'?"

Whitney shook her head. "Nope. But before we begin, I would like to introduce to you our tech producer. Our brother, Dean!" She hit another button on the remote and an applause sounded as the camera turned around to reveal a boy who looked about a year older than the twins.

Dean had black hair and blue eyes. "Hey there, America!"

"Enough with hogging the screen, Dean, it's _Twin_ Scene," Hilary's voice sounded. The camera turned back to the twins. "See what I did there, with all the rhyming?"

"Anyway, Hill and I have been hanging out with our brother lately," said Whitney, "and we've been thinking, 'Hey, why can't we make our own show? We've got talent!' So we've made ourselves a web show. Every week, we'll do a show based on a different genre and this week is…comedy! You know the comedy I'm talking about: the spit take…"

"…rubber chickens…" Hilary added.

"…the pie to the face…"

"…and the--" Hilary turned to face her sister. "You know when you go to 'pie in the face' that I can't top that."

Carly, Freddie, and Sam started giggling there. They couldn't help it. They kept watching the show for about 10 minutes before it was time to get started on their own show. Freddie set up the technical stuff and Carly and Sam got ready to do the show.

"In 5…" Freddie started counting down as he held up the camera, "4…3…2…1…" The show started.

"Hey, I'm Carly!" Carly said, excitedly.

"And I'm Sam," Sam added.

"And this is…" Carly continued.

"iCarly!" both girls shouted.

Sam pushed a button on her remote and an applause sounded.

"Now, we'd like to kick off the show with a video sent in by one of our many fans," said Carly, "Freddie, roll the video."

"Roll it!" Sam said.

Freddie went over to the computer and typed in a few commands. "And we're rolling."

A screen came out of a nearby wall and showed a little girl. "Hey, Carly, Sam, Freddie, I'm Sydney. I'm from Walla Walla, Washington, and yes, it is a weird name. Come to think of it, I don't know why they call it that. Anyway, my mom owns a marine animal park here and I am going to feed the dolphins pancakes." She picked up the camera and set it up to show her picking up a plate of pancakes and kneeling down at the side of a large pool. A dolphin appeared in the water. Sydney picked up the top pancake and throwing it in the air. The dolphin did a flip/jump and caught the pancake in his mouth. She did the same thing a few more times and then went back over to the camera. "I think my arms got tired halfway through that." She tossed the plate over her shoulder and the other pancakes went flying into the water. She turned around to see the dolphin picking up the floating pancakes in his mouth. She turned back to the camera, her hands covering her mouth in shock. Then she started laughing. "I hope he's OK with topping them with chlorine instead of butter." She laughed again. "Later." She waved and the video stopped.

Sam hit the applause button again. "Who doesn't love pancakes?"

"And who doesn't love dolphins?" asked Carly.

"So who wouldn't love dolphins eating pancakes?" asked Sam, "We just liked the tricks the dolphin kept doing. But still, dolphins and pancakes in the same video!"

They kept doing the show for about 5 or 6 (maybe even 7) minutes and then got ready to sign off.

"Well, that's our show," said Carly, "Hope you liked it."

"And we hope you'll watch us again later," said Sam, "And remember, keep on laughing!"

"Bye!" both girls said.

Some music started playing and Carly and Sam started dancing while Freddie signed off.

"And we're clear," said Freddie, turning off the camera and the music.

Spencer came in after a few seconds. "Hey, guys. Good show. Anyway, I was wondering if you needed me to drive you anywhere this week."

"Why?" asked Sam.

"'Cause I have nothing to do!" Spencer whined, "The science museum just called and they can't approve my sculpture until next week or maybe later."

"Well, if you're free tomorrow," said Carly, "Maybe you can take us to see some web show competitors."

"You guys have competition here in Seattle?" asked Spencer.

"Yeah, 2 brunette girls," said Sam, "The have a show called Twin Scene and their brother is their tech producer."

"Well, in that case, let's saddle up and go see them tomorrow," Spencer said.


	2. Dark Days

Chapter 2: Dark Days

Carly, Sam, Freddie, and Spencer came to 2-story house. They got out of the car and went up to the door.

"We ready?" asked Sam. When the others nodded, she rang the doorbell.

Dean answered the door. "He-" He took one look at the group and then realized who they were. "Oh boy. WHITNEY! HILARY!"

The twins came down the stairs.

"What do you want, Dean?" asked Hilary, crossing her arms at him angrily.

"Look who's here," said Dean, gesturing to their guests.

Hilary took one look at them and started freaking out. "Oh boy…come in!"

Whitney started tugging on Carly's arm and drew her over to the couch in the living room. "Whatever my brother or sister say that might sound insulting, ignore it. We all love your show."

"Thanks, we're into yours, too," said Carly, "So, uh…let's go ahead and introduce ourselves." Whitney let go of her arm. "I'm Carly Shay as you probably know."

"And I'm Whitney Tilden," said Whitney.

"And I'm Hilary Tilden," said Hilary, "her twin sister."

"Sam Puckett," said Sam.

"Freddie Benson," said Freddie, holding out his hand.

"Dean Tilden," said Dean, shaking Freddie's hand.

"And I'm Spencer Shay, Carly's brother," said Spencer, "So where are you guys' parents?"

"Uh, actually…" Dean said, "our mom died giving birth to the twins."

Carly stopped smiling immediately. "Oh my—I'm so sorry."

"It's OK, really," said Whitney, "We never really knew her and Dean was just 1 or 2, but our dad raised us. Unfortunately, he's in the military, so he's not here right now."

"Hey, my dad's in the military, too," said Carly, "Spencer's my guardian."

"We're in the hands of our sister, Blondie," said Hilary.

Sam started snickering. "You have a sister named Blondie?"

"Actually, her real name's Beatrice, but everyone hates that name so she just goes by Blondie," said Hilary.

"Makes sense," said Sam, nodding, "Where is she?"

"At her band rehearsal," said Dean.

"Your sister's in a band?" asked Freddie, impressed.

"Yeah, they're called Dark Days," said Whitney, sitting down on the couch.

"How old is she?" asked Carly, sitting down next to her.

"21," answered Hilary, sitting down next to her sister, "She should be home in…3…2…1…" She pointed to the door and a horn sounded outside. "Showtime."

In came a blonde girl with greenish-blue eyes. She was carrying a guitar case. "Thanks for the ride, Dale!" she called outside, waving. She then walked through the open door, closed it, and noticed how there was 7 people in the living room instead of the usual 3. "Do we have company?"

Dean smiled. "Blondie, this is Carly and Spencer Shay, Freddie Benson, and Sam Puckett, the cast of iCarly, that web show we told you was also here in Seattle."

"Oh, yeah, I've heard of you guys," said Blondie, "I actually saw one of your shows. You're really funny."

"Thanks," said Carly, "You're sisters are really good, too."

"Why don't you say that to her sisters themselves?" asked Hilary, "We are sitting right here."

"Right, sorry," said Carly. She turned back to Blondie. "So, you're in a band."

"Yeah, we're performing on Seattle Beat tonight," said Blondie.

"You got Dark Days on Seattle Beat?" Whitney asked, excitedly, "Why didn't you say something earlier?"

"I just found out that Dale had gotten us in this afternoon," said Blondie, "I was going to call, but I figured you guys might be rehearsing as well."

"Wait, you're show's tonight?" Carly asked the twins, who nodded, "What is it?"

Whitney leaned over to the coffee table and picked up a cowgirl hat, plopping it on her head. "Well, howdy there, partner," she said with a Southern accent, "That there's a Western tonight." Carly giggled. Whitney looked at her watch. "And it's on in about 10 minutes." She and Hilary stood up. "You guys want to sit in?"

"Sure," said Sam.

"Let's do it," said Freddie.

The kids went upstairs, leaving Spencer and Blondie alone in the living room.

"Want to watch the show on my laptop?" asked Blondie.

"Sure," said Spencer, "Want to go out with me next Saturday?"

"Sure," said Blondie.

"Yes!" Spencer whispered to himself as Blondie set up her laptop.

Hilary put on her cowgirl hat and went over to Freddie. "Do us a favor?" Freddie shrugged then nodded. "Dean hooked up a special sound effect. Whenever we crash something, hit the red button."

"Got it," said Freddie, going over to the laptop as Dean hooked up the camera, "And we'll just stay out of your way till the show's done."

"Alright," said Whitney. She elbowed her sister. "Hill, help me work on my draw." She tugged on the handle of the plastic gun in her pocket and it flew out and hit the wall behind them.

"That'll work," said Hilary.

_5 minutes later…_

Hilary picked up a plastic rattlesnake and shrieked. "It's a rattler!" she cried in a Southern Belle accent, "Get rid of it!" She dropped it on the ground.

Whitney kicked the snake so hard that it went right through the open window.

Freddie recognized the cue and hit the red button, causing a sound effect that sounded like a window smashing and a cat screeching.

Hilary took off her hat and Whitney picked up the remote. Both girls were still laughing.

"And that concludes this week's episode of…" Whitney started, pulling herself together and hitting the graphic button.

"Twin Scene!" both girls said as the flashy graphic appeared on the screen and then disappeared.

"And remember to watch our sister's band perform on Seattle Beat tonight," Whitney added.

"And log on next week to see-" Hilary started.

"Don't give away the theme of next week!" Whitney scolded, "Just tell them to log on like always."

"OK, OK," Hilary said, "Log on next week, blah, blah, blah, et cetera, et cetera, and scene!"

"Bye!" both girls said.

"And we're clear," Dean said, turning off the camera.

"You guys are really good," said Carly.

"Thanks," said Whitney, "Well, our sister's probably-" Whitney stopped when Blondie and Spencer came through the door. "Never mind."

"Alright, guys," said Blondie, "Seattle Beat time. Let's get going!"

* * *

Dark Days finally got set up.

Blondie was the lead singer and the main guitarist. She was wearing a green tank top with a yellow smiley face printed on it, a black leather jacket, a denim mini skirt, and knee-length brown leather cowgirl boots (to go with the Western theme of that night's Twin Scene show).

The drummer was Dale Dennis. He was a brunette with dark brown eyes. He was wearing basic brown pants, a brown T-shirt, a pair of sneakers, and his lucky wristband.

The bassist was Xavier Zenith. He had brown hair and green eyes. He was wearing torn blue jeans, black boots, and a dark black top.

The keyboardist was Jill Vane. She was a redhead with light blue eyes. She was wearing a dark purple dress with a pinkish-purple velvet belt; mint green, baby blue, and light red striped knee socks; gold and silver flip-flops; and her favorite fingerless pink and purple gloves.

Spencer and the iCarly cast and the twins and Dean were over with the crew.

Finally, the show started.

"And now on Seattle Beat," the host said, "we present to you a hot new band. Please welcome Dark Days!"

The lights all went out.

A spotlight shown on Dale as he started pounding away.

Another spotlight came up as Xavier strummed his bass.

One more spotlight went on as Jill began to press down the keys.

A final [really bright] spotlight shown on Blondie as she played her guitar and got ready to sing.

_I got a feeling that you're  
Really into me  
So come on, let's go_

_(Guitar riff)_

_I'm really feeling that you  
Really wanna dance with me  
So let the music take control_

_(Drum solo)_

_Come and dance  
Let's take a chance  
And feel it in your SOUL!_

_CHORUS:_

_You gotta do  
Whatever you want to_  
'_Cause no one can hold you back but you  
So come on and sing  
Do your own thing  
And just let go  
Lose control  
Rock out  
Knock out  
Scream loud  
Right now_

_I got a feeling  
That you wanna  
Hang out with me_

_(Guitar riff)_

_I got a feeling  
That you need to  
Hang around to see_

_(Keyboard solo)_

_That we're free to try  
Just look in my eyes  
And you can be FREE!_

_CHORUS:_

_You gotta do  
Whatever you want to_  
'_Cause no one can hold you back but you  
So come on and sing  
Do your own thing  
And just let go  
Lose control  
Rock out  
Knock out  
Scream loud  
Right now_

_(Keyboard solo)_

_(Bass riff)_

_(Drum solo)_

_BRIDGE:_

_(Acapella)_

_Day or night  
Dark or light  
Wrong or right  
It's all the same_

_(Drums join in)_

_Move along  
Sing your song  
There's nothing wrong  
With letting 'em know your name_

_(Keys join in)_

_Be yourself  
No one else  
Can tell you what to do_

_(Bass joins in)_

_It's time  
To shine  
So go ahead, BE YOU!_

_(Guitar solo)_

_CHORUS:_

_You gotta do  
Whatever you want to_  
'_Cause no one can hold you back but you  
So come on and sing  
Do your own thing  
And just let go  
Lose control  
Rock out  
Knock out  
Scream loud  
Right now_

_(Guitar riff)_

_CHORUS:_

_You gotta do  
Whatever you want to_  
'_Cause no one can hold you back but you  
So come on and sing  
Do your own thing  
And just let go  
Lose control  
Rock out  
Knock out  
Scream loud  
Right now_

_(Drums)_

_Right now_

_(Keys)_

_Right now_

_(Bass)_

_Right now!_

_(Guitar riff)_

The song ended and everyone applauded. Blondie was considering this to be the best night of her life.


	3. Mostly Magical

Chapter 3: Mostly Magical

Whitney ran down a street. "I can't believe I'm late again!" She came to building, looked around, and walked up the steps. She opened the door and a light shone as she walked in. "Hill? Dean?" She walked through the hall to a room. She looked through the window in the door. All the other windows in the room had the curtains pulled down. The only light was a small pink light in the center of the room. She rolled her eyes, opened the door, and walked in.

There was a girl in the center of the room in a blue dress with long sleeves and…a hat matching the one Mickey Mouse wore in _Fantasia_. P.S. It was Hilary. "…_And let Clymene, the god of fame, stretch out his hand for us._ I love magic."

"Really, Hill, really?"

Hilary jumped up and turned to face her twin sister. "What are you doing, Wit?"

"Telling you off! And why are you wearing that hat we got at MGM in Disney World?"

Hilary quickly took off the hat. "No reason." Whitney gave her a look. "OK, I just like wearing it when I'm doing a spell!"

"Look, I know we're Witches, but that doesn't mean we can't still be funny on our own and Blondie can't be a good singer. You don't have to do a spell to make people like us."

"What about Dean?"

Whitney thought about that. "He's…good at the tech stuff."

"Look, the school is dedicated entirely to magic. They might as well let you have fun with it."

"I'll admit, there are no restrictions on how you use certain spells, but to mortals, this is Sunset Valley High and they do not expect there to be any magic going on in the place."

"Which is why the principal of the school put up that cloaking spell! And the mortals aren't the only ones that think Sorcery Virtues Academy is really a mortal private school that's hard to get in to."

"How many times do Dean and Blondie and I have to tell you, Hill? The…bad guys…are no more, thanks to-"

"You never know, Wit…something might happen…"

* * *

Freddie was sitting on a bench in the hall of _their_ school, poking around on his laptop.

Carly came up to him. "Any luck?"

"No," Freddie explained, "I think I've looked through every branch of the military looking for a 'Mr. Tilden' and he's not in here."

"That's weird." Carly sat down next to him. "Maybe you missed him?"

"I'm not looking through this again."

"Well then, let's just search for their parents."

"I tried that. The twins didn't give us their dad's first name or their mother's maiden name and Tilden is actually a more common name than I expected. And we have no proof that they've always been in this country to begin with."

"So basically we know nothing about them."

"Pretty much."

Sam came up to the 2 of them, then. "Hey, guys. Searching for Wit and Hill's parents?" Carly and Freddie nodded. "You realize that Diane and Jackson Tilden isn't a popular couple name?"

"How'd you get their names?" Freddie asked her, surprised.

"Whitney told me before we left Seattle Beat. Or was it Hilary?" Sam shrugged. "Most likely Hilary."

"Alright, I'm searching." Freddie typed in the names. "Hmm. That's weird."

"What's weird?" Carly asked as Sam sat down next to her.

"Well, it says there's a Jackson Tilden registered in the Navy," Freddie explained, "But he doesn't have kids. And his wife is apparently named Joan. And there's no death record of any Diane Tilden."

"Do you think Hilary gave Sam fake names?" Carly asked.

"No telling," Freddie said, closing his laptop. The bell rang and the 3 friends left for class.

* * *

Spencer finished putting the final touches on his sculpture. "There. All done." There was a knock on the door. He went over and answered it. "Well, hello, Blondie."

Blondie smiled at him. She walked in and revealed her dress. It was and ankle-length, flowing, lavender-pink, silk gown.

"Wow…" Spencer stared at her.

"You don't think it's too girly or-"

"No, you're—it's beautiful!"

Blondie smiled (mostly at his mistake). "Shall we?"

"We shall." Spencer held the door for her, grabbed his coat and wallet, and left.

Carly then came down the stairs. "Spencer, I need-" She cut herself off when she noticed that the apartment was empty. "Huh. Guess he's on his date with Blondie." It was then that an idea hit her. She pulled out her cell phone and grabbed a phone book. She flipped through the pages to the T's. "Tilden…Tilden…Beatrice Tilden!" She dialed the number. "Come on…pick up, pick up, pick up!"

"_Hello?_"

"Dean! I need to talk to you and your sisters now! Get over here!"

_15 minutes later…_

Dean, Whitney, and Hilary entered Carly and Spencer's apartment to see Carly, Freddie, and Sam sitting together on the couch.

"We need to talk," Carly said.

Dean, Whitney, and Hilary looked at each other and sat down on the chairs.

"Is this an intervention or something?" Hilary asked, playfully.

"Yes," Sam said.

"Oh."

"We know your secret."

Dean, Hilary, and Whitney (I switched the twins' names there for variety) all looked at each other again, this time in fear and shock.

"You do?" Whitney asked.

"Yeah, we know about your parents," Freddie said.

"How'd you find out?" Dean asked.

"We searched the internet!"

"Man, you can't trust anybody these days!"

"OK, so what if we're Witches?" Hilary suddenly burst in a fleet of panic, "Our parents did a good thing sacrificing their lives to save the world. It's no cause for an intervention just because we're not allowed to tell you!"

"Wait a minute, what?" Carly cried, "What do you mean you're Witches?"

"And a Warlock!" Dean added, defensively.

"What do you mean what do we mean we're Witches?" Whitney asked, "You just said that you knew about our parents-"

"We were talking about Hilary giving Sam fake names!" Freddie said.

"Oh."

"Alright, now we have explaining to do!" Dean said, looking at his sisters accusingly.


	4. Highstrung Hijinks

Chapter 4: High-strung Hijinks

"So let me get this straight," Freddie said about a half hour later, "Your parents were a Witch and Warlock who fell in love in the midst of a war that we mortals knew nothing about and when Blondie was born she lost her powers diminishing the head bad guy's powers and your mother really did die in child-birth but it gave the bad guys a chance to reawaken this Zentor guy and nobody believed your dad until he went missing and now you're using your magic to make yourselves famous, whether or not you can do it on your own, so that you can finally get everyone's attention and warn them that the evildoers are gonna try to kill 'em?"

"Yeah, that's pretty much it," Hilary said.

"Can you prove that your Witches?" Sam asked, getting up from the couch.

Whitney looked at the tiny flowerpot on the bookcase behind her. She closed her eyes, concentrated, and opened her eyes in time to see the pot shake and explode.

"OK, that works for me."

"So Blondie doesn't have any magic anymore?" Carly asked. All 3 Tilden children (rhyme was intended) nodded their heads. Carly sighed with relief. "So I guess I don't have to worry about my brother going out with a Witch."

"Spencer and Blondie are on a date?" Dean asked, suddenly a little scared.

"Yeah, didn't she tell you?"

"No!" Whitney jumped in, "She must not have wanted us to worry about the fact Zentor's followers ARE OUT THERE AND READY TO KILL!"

* * *

Spencer was laughing his head off. "She really threw herself into the punch bowl?"

Blondie smiled. "Several times."

Spencer calmed down a little. "I like you."

Blondie smiled wider. "Thanks, Spencer. I like you, too."

"You know, I was thinking-"

Before Spencer could finish his sentence, the windows all exploded. In came several guys in cloaks and masks (like the Death Eaters in Harry Potter except they didn't have pointy hats).

Blondie took one second to look at them in surprise, fear, and anger and then turned back to Spencer. "Get down!"

"What? Why?"

Blondie knocked him down. They were behind a bush-like mini-wall now and no one could see them.

"What's going on?" Spencer asked. Blondie shushed him. To make sure he didn't speak again, she covered his mouth doing so.

"I don't see the girl." The voice was deep and gravelly and obviously male.

"She's here, I know it. Keep looking. Tear the place apart if you have to." This one was light and delicate and obviously a girl. She sounded much too nice to be evil but she clearly was.

"Works for me. If Master Zentor wishes for the girl to die for what she did, then she will die."

Blondie saw one of the waiters go for them and was unable to stop him in time.

"Hey! I hate to interrupt, but you can't just-" There was a flash of light and the waiter's dead body fell to the floor not too far away from them.

Spencer mumbled something and then bit Blondie's hand, making her let go.

"Ow!" Blondie scolded, quietly, "You bit me!"

"Blondie, what's going on?" Spencer asked again.

Blondie looked at him for a few seconds. "I can't tell you, I-"

There was another flash of light and one of the bad guys was launched into the wall opposite them.

Blondie dared to look just over the "bush" and saw her little brother and sisters with Carly, Sam, and Freddie. "Oh no."

"What now?" Spencer looked, too. "Oh no."

Whitney stepped forward. "Get away from them!" She got into the center of the room and swatted her hands toward the walls, knocking everyone (except Spencer, Blondie, Carly, Sam, Freddie, Hilary, Dean, and herself) into them.

Spencer looked at Blondie. "How'd she do that?"

Blondie sighed. "I'll explain later. Right now…I've gotta save my family." She tuck-and-rolled out from behind the bush, landing on one knee, and held out her hands. As her eyes started to glow red, beams of light launched from her palms and knocked one of the bad guys through the broken window.

One of the bad guys looked at her. "It's her." It was the woman who'd spoken earlier. She took off her mask to reveal her long, radiant blonde hair and soft, light, hypnotizing blue eyes. Her nose was pretty simple and her cheekbones pretty full and she looked almost 17 despite her real age being almost double that.

Carly and Spencer couldn't shake the feeling of having seen this girl before.

Blondie stood up. "Well, you came for me. I'm here. What're you waiting for?"

The woman half-smiled, bearing a look of contempt on her face. She looked at Carly, Sam, Freddie, and Spencer in turn and her look turned to slight fear. "Run." She clapped her hands together and disappeared. The other bad guys followed her example.

"What was that?" Sam asked.

"Yeah, I thought you said your sister lost her magic," Freddie added.

"Magic?" Spencer asked.

"Well, she did," Whitney explained, "But some Witches and Warlocks, like us, are also Gifted, capital G, so that we can do other things."

"Witches and Warlocks?" Spencer continued.

"It's a long story," Blondie told Spencer, "I'll explain later."

"Why was that woman afraid of Spencer, Sam, Freddie, and me?" Carly asked.

"I don't know," said Dean.

"I think I do," said Hilary, "Does the name Ilanna Minx mean anything to you?"

Carly shook her head. "I don't think I've heard it before."

Whitney sighed and pulled a book out of her older sister's bag. She opened it and looked up the name. "'Ilanna Minx, one of Zentor's most faithful Decimators,'—his followers—'has mercilessly killed thousands of mortals and hundreds of Witches and Warlocks. 3 of her worst killings were of Adara Aaliyah, Keegan Kalman, and Forest Fadel, who were said to have left their birth realm, the magic; changed their names to live in the mortal land; and given birth to the Gifts, 3 powerful mortals, and their Guardian, the eldest child's older sibling who would guide them and protect them through the realm of magic should they one day return to help the Gifted, 4 siblings who are the only ones capable of destroying Zentor. Ilanna hoped that the deaths of the Witch and her 2 Warlock friends would prevent this, but she had killed them 30 years after they had left their realm, which was a whole year too late.' You following me now?"

"Not really," Carly said.

"I think I am," Blondie said, "If I understood the story right, they changed their names to Abby Shay, Kyle Benson, and Franklin Puckett. It took Ilanna 30 years to find and kill all 3, allowing them just enough time to fall in love with and marry 3 mortals and give birth to you!"

"You think that we're these super kids?" Sam asked.

"Well," Whitney said, "There's only one way to find out…"


	5. Eminent Evil

Chapter 5: Eminent Evil

Mrs. Benson, Freddie's mom, heard a knocking on her apartment door. "I'm coming!" She ran out of her kitchen and to her door and opened it. "Freddie! I was getting concerned when you didn't come home. I've been in the kitchen for the past few hours cooking you a snack-" Freddie pushed his mom to the side and came into the apartment, followed by Whitney. "Who's this?"

"That's not important," Freddie said, "I need to ask you something."

Mrs. Benson closed the door and sat down on the couch next to her son and his new friend. "What's wrong, honey?"

"It's about Dad."

Mrs. Benson stared at him. "What about your father?"

"Uh…" Freddie hesitated. He glanced at Whitney, who egged him on. "Was he a Warlock?"

Mrs. Benson sighed in dismay and looked at the floor.

"Was he? You've told me my whole life that they didn't exist."

"I was trying to protect you. Your father was a Warlock. I told you they didn't exist because he told me not to tell you until you were ready and I never knew when the right time was. When we first met in California, your father seemed like an ordinary guy. I loved him at first sight." Freddie smiled. She'd never told him much about his father. "We dated, married, and had you. But when you were 7 months old, he told me that his 2 friends were in trouble, one in New York and the other here in Seattle. We came here to find that his old friend, Abby, was dead. He met his other friend, Franklin, a few blocks down, and told me to stay here and watch you. While he was gone, I met Abby's husband and 2 kids, who I believe you know are Carly and Spencer. After a while, I realized that he'd been gone for 5 hours. I left you with Abby's husband, Daniel, and went to check on him to find that he and his friend were both dead. He'd told me when I was pregnant with you that he was a Warlock and that I couldn't ever let you find out. That's why I've been so protective of you, I didn't know if you were safe or not."

"Mom, I'm perfectly safe. I'm one of the Gifts."

"What does that mean?"

Freddie stopped smiling. "Dad didn't tell you?"

"He said that you were a Gift, but I figured he meant like a gift from God. I didn't think that he meant anything by it."

"Well, see, I'm some sort of super kid because I'm half-Warlock. Apparently, Dad knew that, because he'd heard about some prophecy or something. Whitney here is a full Witch and she says that she may be one of the Gift_ed_."

"What does that mean?"

Whitney sighed. "I can tell there's a lot of explaining needed right now."

* * *

Carly was pacing around her living room, holding her cell phone. "Come on, Dad, pick up!"

Spencer looked at Blondie. "So, just to recap, you're a Witch, you don't have magic anymore, and you're Gifted like a lot of Witches are, but more than usual because you're a superhero?"

Blondie nodded. "Yeah, that's pretty much it."

Dean smiled, sitting next to his sister on the couch. "Let's just hope Carly and Spencer's dad can explain-"

"Hi, Dad!" Carly suddenly burst out.

Spencer jumped up and raced over to Carly so that he could listen to the conversation.

"_Hi, Carly. What's going on?_"

"Oh, everything's fine. I was just calling to ask you…was Mom a Witch?"

Silence.

"Dad?"

"_Uh, I'm still here. How'd you find out?_"

"So, she is?"

"_Yeah, how'd you find out?_"

"I met the Gifted."

"_Oh. Carly, you need to understand. I meant to tell you that you were half-Witch, but I never…_"

"There was never a right time?"

"_Exactly. We met there in Seattle. We fell in love, we dated, we got married, and we had you and Spencer. The day before your brother was born, she told me that she was a Witch, that Spencer was a Guardian, and that you were a Gift. She said that she was prophesied to give birth to you 2 and that you would help the Gifted destroy some evil guy. Now that you're 15, I guess your powers are probably kicking in._"

"Yeah, they kind of are. Of course, I haven't done anything yet, but still."

"_I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner. I have to go. Bye._"

"Bye, Dad. Love you." Carly hung up. "Well, it's official. I'm half-Witch."

* * *

Sam and Hilary came to Sam's house.

Sam hesitated to open the door and then looked at Hilary. "Do you think you could…cast a spell to make sure my mom tells the truth or something?"

Hilary sighed. "If I have to." She looked around to make sure no one else was nearby. "_Don't let this moment pass us by, make Sam's mother tell the truth and not lie._"

Sam opened the door and walked inside. She stopped Hilary from following. "Trust me, you do not wanna come in here." She closed the door.

Hilary sighed and sat down on the porch. She started drumming her fingers on the concrete and tapping her foot on the sidewalk. Then she sighed again and put her head in her hands, tapping her foot faster. "Oh, I can't this! _I'm tired of this endless waiting, turn me invisible and intangible and let me see what Sam's creating._" She zapped herself and she was temporarily a Ghost. She stood up and walked into the house. She looked around and then heard yelling. She looked down the hall to see Sam come out of a room with her mother.

"Yes," said Mrs. Puckett, "your father was a Warlock." She punched Sam in the face. "Not that you're any better."

_She's abused? _Hilary cried out in her mind, _No wonder she's so pushy and aggressive. _Hilary sighed and started to think about what to do. She panicked and zapped Sam's mother.

"What in the-" Before Mrs. Puckett could finish her sentence, Hilary zapped her again, knocking her into a room.

Hilary went over to Sam and let go of her spell so that she was visible. "Sam, now's your chance to find out what your powers are."

Sam just glared at Hilary for a few seconds and then started thinking. "OK, uh…super strength!" She ran into the living room, followed by Hilary, and tried to lift the coffee table. Nothing. "OK, forget that."

_CRASH!_

Hilary quickly scanned the ideas she'd had. Of course, super strength was one of them. "Uh…telekinesis?" Sam stared at her. "Moving stuff with your mind?"

"Oh!" Sam stared at the coffee table and pulled with her mind. Nothing.

"Televandalism? Making things explode?"

"That seems more likely." Sam looked at the wall across the hall and pushed with her mind. _BOOM!_ "Yeah! I knew it! Too bad that's not going to help with humans!"

Hilary stopped cheering. "Oh yeah. New plan. You explode the whole building and we transport out of here and call the cops."

"I like that idea. Get the spell going!" Sam grabbed onto Hilary, who started chanting. As soon as Sam saw Hilary's hands glowing and Mrs. Puckett finally pulling herself out of that room in the hall, she shut her eyes tight and concentrated, pushing as hard as she could. The walls started breaking, the windows started cracking, and the doors each broke in 2. Eventually, the whole house was falling apart and Sam saw it fade away…

"You let them get away?" one of the Decimators yelled at Ilanna.

"I had to. Those 3 kids were not supposed to have existed. I killed the 3!"

"And yet the Gifts still live. Master Zentor will not be pleased."

Ilanna glared at him and pulled his mask off to reveal his short, light blonde hair and his soft, light blue eyes. He looked a lot like her, but they couldn't be twins. "I did what I had to. Their power isn't fully emerged yet and to kill them now, so soon, especially when their Guardian is so close by, would be an act of foolishness that would let loose their undiscovered power until it destroyed the whole city!"

"We have ravaged cities before. It should not make a difference."

"But it is different, Ian! These kids will be killed, believe me, but not now. When they have reached their full power and we can know for sure that they are truly a threat, then they will strike. Until then, we do what Master Zentor tells us and we wait for them to realize that they are no match for us. We are too powerful for them. Good night, little brother." Ilanna left the room, leaving Ian Minx alone in the hall of the dark building.


	6. Before Battling

Chapter 6: Before Battling

Blondie, Spencer, and Mrs. Benson were all sitting on the couch in Carly and Spencer's apartment as Whitney, Dean, Carly, and Freddie paced around the room in front of them.

"Relax," said Blondie, "I'm sure Sam and Hilary will be here soon."

Suddenly, the 4 15-year-olds stopped pacing. The group heard distant screaming as the ceiling warped and finally revealed a golden wormhole that Sam and Hilary fell out of, landing behind the couch.

Hilary got up. "I'm OK."

Sam got up, too. "OK, my dad's a Warlock."

"And you had to transport back here when someone else could've seen you?" Whitney scolded her twin sister.

"It was an emergency!" Hilary corrected. She sighed. "But in the process, we did find that one of Sam's powers was blowing stuff up." Whitney glared at her, wide-eyed. Hilary held up her hands. "I reiterate my previous statement: it was an emergency!"

"Well, if Sam's powers are in bloom," Blondie reasoned, "then that means that Carly and Freddie must have some by now as well."

"The question is, what are they?" asked Dean.

"One way to find out," said Carly. She looked at the coffee table and thought of telekinesis. She smiled to herself and started to push and pull with her mind, but nothing happened. She sighed, realizing that hadn't worked, and, frustrated, stomped her foot on the floor...making it light up in flames. She shrieked and fell backwards.

"Carly!" Spencer got up from the couch and rushed to his sister's side in time to see the flames die out.

"Pyrokinesis?" Freddie suggested.

"Hmm..." Carly got up from the floor and aimed for the window, attempting to do the same thing...and her thoughts drifted to the ocean outside and a water-ball hit the window instead. "Not just fire. I must be an elemental!" She cheered and let a cool breeze whip her hair for a few seconds.

Freddie started to think about what his powers could be. "I wonder..." He looked at the canisters on the island and pushed, knocking on off. "Yes! One of us _is_ telekinetic!"

"And it had to be you?" Sam said. She kicked the table, lightly...and knocked it into Freddie, pinning him to the wall.

"Freddie!" Mrs. Benson ran over there and pushed the table back. "Are you OK?"

"I think so," Freddie said as his mother helped him up.

"Yes!" Sam cried, "I do have super strength!"

"It must have just taken a while for that power to kick in," said Hilary.

"Speaking of which..." Carly said, "...oh..."

"Are you alright, Carls?" asked Sam.

"A little dizzy, but..." Carly suddenly snapped her head back like she'd been punched in the nose. She fell to the ground.

Spencer caught her, but she was still being punched around by an invisible force.

"You don't think one of the Decimators jinxed her, do you?" asked Whitney.

"No," Blondie said, "a jinx this powerful would've sent out the shockwave. One of us would've sensed it."

"Then what's up with her?" asked Spencer.

Suddenly, Carly opened her eyes to reveal that they were entirely white.

_Ilanna kicked the wall, knocking a hole in it. She looked at Ian. "How could you let them get away?"_

_"Well, the tables have certainly turned on us."_

_Ilanna punched him, knocking him into the wall. She ran at him and pinned him to the wall. "Don't give me that. I've worked my tail off trying to get rid of these kids ever since their powers went into full bloom 2 days ago!"_

_"Don't worry, Ilanna..." came a hissing voice. Ilanna and Ian looked around to see a man, draped in a cloak, lying on the floor in the room by them with a yellow circle drawn on the center of the floor, where the man was lying, and a star etched in blood in the center of it. The man looked at them, the hood on his cloak hiding his face. "The Gifts and the Gifted will not find us...they will not destroy us..." He looked up at the skylight above him to see the sun's glow fading as the moon came toward it. "During the eclipse today...I will rise...the Tilden kids' dead father's power will be put into me to replace that which was taken when his eldest lost her power...I will return...I will destroy the Gifts _and _the Gifted...I will utterly destroy this world...kill all the mortals...turn this land into a living hell...and I shall rule it!" He lifted the hood of his cloak to reveal his frightening face staring at the approaching eclipse..._

...but Carly didn't get a good look at him before the vision faded and her eyes returned to normal.

"What happened?" Spencer asked as he helped his little sister stand back up.

"I don't know," said Carly. She almost fell again, still weakened from the vision, but Spencer kept her balanced. "I think I just saw the future."

"You're a psychic," Whitney reasoned.

"Which makes sense," said Carly, "because in my vision, Ilanna was talking to another Decimator and she said that our powers went into full bloom '2 days ago' and they're just blooming. And there was a man in a room...he said that during the next eclipse he would come to full power by destroying us and the world...and completely taking the power of...the Tilden kids' dead father." Hilary went into shock, her eyes filling with tears. Whitney looked at the floor, trying to hide any tears that came to her eyes. Blondie just stared at Carly, unable to say anything. Dean slowly turned his gaze to his feet, sadly. "Your dad's not just missing, he's dead. I'm sorry."

Hilary broke down into tears. Sam tried to calm her down.

Whitney tried to hide it, but she let a single tear fall down her face, regardless. Carly tried to calm her down.

Spencer took Blondie in his arms and let her sob into his chest.

Dean just kept staring at his feet. He looked at Carly and found himself gazing at her as though she were a beautiful, graceful animal. Suddenly, he took her in his arms and started to cry.

Mrs. Benson went over to Whitney-who Freddie was now trying to calm-and started to stroke her hair. "Don't worry, we'll stop this."

"Right," Carly said, "How many powers do we have?"

"There's no telling," Whitney answered, wiping her tears away, "Most Gifted Witches just have 1 power besides their magic, like Blondie has her beams, but you guys must be the first half-bloods to ever be Gifted so there's no way to be sure."

"Then I guess we have to be training all day with this to figure out exactly how much power the 8 of us have," said Sam.

"Uh...I'm just a mortal," said Freddie's mom, raising her hand, "What do I do?"

Hilary handed her a pencil and a pad of paper. "You can keep track."

Mrs. Benson hesitantly took the pencil and notepad and shrugged.

The group worked on "power pinpointing" (as Hilary called it) and discovered most of their abilities:

Carly

1. Elemental (controlling the elements)  
2. Psychic (involuntarily seeing the future)  
3. Super speed (running really fast)  
4. Heartless (using her heart as a weapon or a healing device)  
5. Calming (tranquilizing a person)  
6. Heart (immortalizing someone she loves)  
7. Illusion (making people see stuff that isn't there)

Sam

1. Televandalism (blowing things up)  
2. Super strength (lifting heavy stuff)  
3. Astral projection (making her spirit go to places inconspicuously when she's asleep-discovered when she got tired of working and took a nap)  
4. Animation (bringing drawings, inanimate objects, and cartoon and book characters to life)  
5. Wall-walking (walking or running up walls and standing on ceilings)  
6. Appearance-altering (making herself look different)  
7. Cooking (making food appear-discovered when she wanted a snack and the Shay family was out of chili)

Freddie

1. Telekinesis (moving things with his mind)  
2. Summoning (making animals appear to fight for him)  
3. Conjuring (making weapons appear)  
4. Telepathy (mind-talking/mind-reading)  
5. Wish-granting (granting wishes)  
6. Jump (jumping long distances and tall heights-much to his mother's dismay)  
7. Speed-reading (memorizing a book by touching it)

Spencer

1. Healing (rejuvenating other people)  
2. Shields (creating force fields that keep him and others from being harmed)  
3. Chameleon (turning him and other people other colors)  
4. X-ray vision (seeing through things)  
5. Night vision (seeing things perfectly in the dark)  
6. Detection (sensing power and life around him)  
7. Sound-sensing (sensing where a sound is coming from)

Whitney

Star-o-kinesis (taking stars from the sky at night and using them as weapons)

Hilary

Sonic screech (ear-piercing/deafening scream)

Dean

Skeleton Key (unlocking stuff)

Blondie

Beams (rays of light that electrify a person)

However, they knew it might be possible that there was more to be found, so there was no telling if Carly's vision was for 2 days after today or later...and there wasn't supposed to be an eclipse any time soon...


	7. Overestimated Odds

Chapter 7: Overestimated Odds

Carly and Sam and Freddie were at their lockers.

Sam sighed. "My microwave's broken." She looked around to make sure no one else was watching and clapped her hands as quietly as possible, making a bowl of chili appear in her locker. She smiled, took it out, and started eating it.

"Sam!" Carly scolded.

"What?"

She leaned in to whisper the rest. "The twins said that their school was the only place in this world where you could use magic freely around mortals! And even then, the mortals don't know about it. The only mortals that are allowed to know about magic are those who are married to or related to Witches and/or Warlocks. So we can't be using our powers in school!"

"OK, OK, I get it." Sam took a few seconds and started to eat the chili again.

"Sam!"

"What?"

Freddie looked at her. "What is it with you and chili anyway?"

"Mama loves the chili."

Gibby came up. "Where'd you get that chili?"

Sam looked at him. "Bye, Gibby."

Gibby walked off.

As soon as he was gone, the bell rang.

Sam started to walk off to class.

"Sam," said Carly, "The chili."

"Oh, right." Sam took the spoon out of the bowl and emptied it in Freddie's hair, then dumped the bowl in his locker and closed it and her own before walking off.

Freddie looked at Carly as she closed her own locker. "She poured chili in my hair and my locker."

"I know." Carly pulled him up and they walked off.

_Meanwhile…_

At Sunset Valley High—AKA, Sorcery Virtues Academy—the Tilden children (no rhyme intended) were going to school (except, of course, for Blondie, who'd graduated years ago).

Hilary, Whitney, and Dean were at their adjacent lockers, turning the dials with their wands to get them open.

"You know, as much as I love this security system to keep out the mortals," said Hilary, "I think I'd prefer going to school with Carly, Sam, and Freddie."

"We can't go to a mortal school with Witch powers," Whitney lectured, "We'd likely blow our cover, somehow, eventually."

"Wit's right," said Dean, "Carly, Sam, and Freddie have got to stay where they are and the 3 of us have to stay here."

"Who's side are you on?" asked Hilary.

"Look…" Whitney looked around to make sure no one was listening and then leaned in to whisper the rest to her sister. "If we go out into the mortal world for 8 hours a day, that's an 8 hour inlet where the Decimators can find us and destroy us. That's why we had to put up barriers around the house to keep out every magical being except us and the Gifts and their Guardian. If we stay here, we're safe. And Carly, Sam, and Freddie are more likely to be found if they don't change their routine. If it seems like they're acting differently at just the right age, it might tip off the wrong person and give them what they need to find them. We can't let that happen!"

"OK, OK, I get it!" Hilary opened her locker.

Whitney sighed and went back to opening her locker while Dean succeeded in opening his. "I don't know what I did to deserve a sister like you." She finally got it and started to open it. "Honestly, you'd think that—" Without warning, she was knocked back by a surge of energy. She slammed into the wall opposite the lockers and fell face-first onto the floor, surges of blue light and green rushing through her from the force of the magic impact of the spell.

"Whitney!" Hilary and Dean both raced over to help her up.

"Oh, I'll bet you one of the Decimators did this," said Hilary.

"They'd have to sneak into the school and find her locker and open it to do that," said Dean.

"Well, maybe one of their kids did it. I mean, not everyone knows exactly who a lot of the Decimators are; one of their kids could've somehow gotten the locker open and charmed it. All I know is that this isn't an accident—"

"Hey, Hill."

"Conrad!" Hilary whirled around to face the blonde boy, dropping her hold on Whitney and letting her fall on Dean. Hilary noticed this. "Sorry." She turned back to the boys. "'Sup?"

Clarence and Conrad Cornerstone were the only other twins in the school. They both blonde hair and blue-green eyes and ivory skin. True to their names' meanings, Clarence was a smart guy and Conrad was an optimist.

Clarence looked at Whitney. "Is she OK?"

"I don't know." Hilary turned back to Conrad. "So, you wanna go out sometime?"

"Maybe later. Hope your sister's OK." He walked off, followed by his brother.

"Right," Hilary said. She turned back to her sister.

Whitney finally regained herself. "I'm good. I'm fine." The bell rang. "Let's just get to class." She led her brother and sister off. 10 minutes into class, Whitney was tapping her pencil incessantly against her notebook, trying her hardest to pay attention. Suddenly, she stopped tapping. She looked at her hand and saw the pencil disintegrating. She dropped it on the floor and it turned to dust. She put her hands on the table and a blue light surged through it. She started breathing faster. She clenched her eyes shut and her hands slowly tied into fists…

_Her mother died…_

_Blondie lost her powers to kill Zentor…_

_Her father screamed as he was murdered…_

Whitney screamed and fell out of her seat. She got on her hands and knees and started to crawl to the back of the room.

Hilary raced over to her sister. "Wit, what's wrong—"

Whitney glared at her.

Hilary gasped. Whitney's eyes were entirely blue and green.

Whitney kicked her back, knocking her into the wall.

Hilary raced over to her sister and held her down. "Somebody cursed Whitney!"

The teacher raced over and did a stunning spell, knocking her out. "Get her to the medical hall. She needs to be checked out immediately."

Hilary nodded and got Dean to help her take their sister off.

_20 minutes later…_

The nurse walked up to Hilary and Dean. "Your sister was hexed by a Corruption Curse. Her essence is reliving the most horrible pieces of her past and her family's, but her body is under the control of the curser. It's a good thing she was stunned when she was or she might have killed you both."

"How do we fix her?" asked Dean.

"The only way to cure her is to find the person who cursed her and force them to turn off the spell. Now if the stunning spell holds on long enough, her body will not be controlled but just in a comatose state. But if both spells hold on long enough…she may never come back. I'm sorry." She walked off.

Hilary sighed and walked off with Dean. "I can't believe this. It must have been the energy surge that came out of her locker."

"I saw her just before she went into her fit. Her powers were acting up. It must have been the curse kicking in. If a curse of that magnitude was delayed, it must have been waiting for her so, yeah, your theory is probably the most reasonable."

"But the locker would have to have been opened to plant the spell. There's now way they could have gotten thing open unless she or someone she was closely related to had opened it."

"What do you mean 'someone she's closely related to'?"

"Same magic signature, even if different wands."

"Well, let's think the time through and then narrow down our suspects. OK…the school closes immediately after everyone leaves, so it must have been someone who left the latest…which just leaves you, the twins, and a few random students and the Mortals-R-Just-As-Cool-As-We-R club."

Hilary thought about that. "I wasn't late yesterday. I left at the same time you and Wit did."

"Yeah, but you went back into the building."

Hilary tried to remember as carefully as possible. "No, I…I really didn't. I don't remember that. I got onto the sidewalk with you and Wit and all 3 of us walked home together and got home around 4:30."

"No, you did. I mean, think. Why would it take us 2 hours to get home? Man, Blondie was worried about you and so were Wit and I."

Hilary considered that. "You're right, but I just don't remember going back into the building."

Dean thought this through. "You don't think somebody cast a mind control spell long enough to get you to open the locker so they could cast the spell and then wiped your memory of it, do you?"

Hilary shook her head. "I doubt it. But it does raise my suspicions here. Maybe we should interview the Mortals-R-Just-As-Cool-As-We-R club." She led him off.

Neither of them saw someone peeking around the corner down the hall. The person, under a cloaking spell, ran off to the library. The person held up their wand and waved it. Instantly, a fire started…


	8. Running Rapidly

Chapter 8: Running Rapidly

At lunch, Carly grabbed Sam and Freddie and raced up to Sunset Valley High. They had decided to drop by to check on Whitney and Hilary and Dean. Carly stopped running.

"Do you really think we just found our number 8 powers?" asked Sam.

"Only one way to find out…" Carly turned around to look at the school. "Uh oh."

Everyone was racing out as half the school went up in flames.

Carly, Sam, and Freddie raced over to find Hilary and Dean at the back of the crowd.

"What happened?" Freddie asked Hilary and Dean.

"No one knows," said Dean, "Someone cast an incendiary spell somewhere in the library and…"

"Uh oh," said Hilary.

"What?" asked Carly.

"Whitney's still in the medical hall!"

Carly grabbed Sam and they raced into the building, Carly using her elemental abilities to clear a path along the way until they finally found the medical hall. Sam grabbed Whitney with her super strength and Carly sped all 3 girls out.

While all this was going on, Freddie, Hilary, and Dean were outside, waiting for them to come back.

"Man, what's taking them so long?" asked Freddie.

Suddenly, Hilary was dragged off.

"I don't know," said Dean, "but, man, if they don't get back in 30 seconds—Hill? Hilary?" He started looking around for his sister.

Conrad had grabbed Hilary and pulled her off to the other side of the street.

"What's going on?" Hilary asked him.

"The tension was getting a little rough over there. I need to ask you something…"

Carly came back out with Sam and Whitney.

Freddie and Dean raced over to them.

"Is she OK?" asked Dean, "Are you 2 OK? What happened in there?"

"We totally just used our powers for good," said Sam, still holding Whitney, "What happened to you sister?"

"She's cursed. She's in a coma until further notice."

"Is she gonna be OK?" asked Carly.

"If we can find who did it. It was someone in the school. But Hill and I weren't able to start investigating before this happened."

"Where is Hill?" asked Sam.

"She just disappeared a few seconds ago—" Freddie explained. Then he stopped. "Oh, I got this." He closed his eyes and concentrated on Hilary. "Oh." He opened his eyes, smiling. "She's just across the street in that alley—" Carly raced off. "—way."

"Leave?" Hilary asked Conrad, "Now? My sister was just attacked—"

"Look, it would just be for a little while. I can help you find who did this to your sister. I know you want me. You keep asking me out."

"You keep turning me down."

"I did? I don't know what came over me…"

Carly came up. "Hill, come on. Who's this?"

"Conrad," Hilary answered, "who needs to keep his distance…" She started to push him away.

"Come on…" Carly said, grabbing Hilary's arm.

Conrad grabbed Hilary's other arm. "She's not going anywhere."

"Uh, I think she is." Carly tugged on her.

"Ow, my arm," Hilary said.

"No, she's staying here with me." Conrad tugged on her.

"Ow, my other arm."

Carly looked at Hilary. "Let's get out of here, Hill." She started to pull her off.

"Leave her alone, you little half-blood!"

Hilary and Carly looked at him.

"We never said she was a half-blood," said Hilary.

"Can't you sense her? It's so obvious she's tainted. Just stay here with me. We're both pure, aren't we?"

"Apparently not. She's my friend. I'm going with her."

"No, you're not, you're coming with me! We all know your into me. Why don't we make that dream a reality?"

Carly started to pull her off again, holding tighter onto her arm.

Conrad dove for Hilary, kissing her before either girl could stop him.

Suddenly, all 3 saw something…

_Conrad pulled Hilary down the empty halls of the school. "Come on."_

_"Where are we going?" Hilary asked, smiling, "What are we doing?"_

_Conrad stopped pulling her. "Look, I need you to do something for me."_

_"What—" Hilary then noticed something. "Hang on a second…I never said that was my locker. How'd you know to stop here?"_

_"Doesn't everyone know everyone else's locker numbers?"_

_"Not in this school, they don't. The halls change sometimes, remember? So what…"_

_"You know what? Don't worry about it." He leaned in and kissed her…_

_Hilary blinked when he let go. She wasn't herself._

_"Now why don't you be a good girl and open your sister's locker for me?"_

_Hilary took out her wand, went over to her sister's locker, and opened it._

_Conrad planted a curse and closed it. "Now go. And don't tell anyone about this. As a matter of fact, don't even remember it." He zapped her and she went home, not remembering anything._

Hilary pushed him away. "You cursed her. You took me over and tried to kill my sister."

"Hill—"

"Don't call me that! GET AWAY FROM ME!" Hilary grabbed onto Carly, who instantly sped away.

Conrad noticed this. In the fleet of the moment, the girls had forgotten that Conrad knew she was a half-blood and that half-bloods were not supposed to be Gifted… "I found them. Their powers are in full bloom…" He ran off.

Carly, Sam, Freddie, Hilary, Whitney, and Dean all raced off, Sam still carrying Whitney. Carly and Hilary telling the others what had just happened, they all raced off to find Spencer and Blondie.

Spencer and Blondie were just walking down the streets to the kids' schools when they intercepted the 2.

"Spencer!" Carly cried.

"Blondie!" Hilary cried as well.

"What happened?" asked Spencer.

"Well, see," Freddie said, "the 3 of us found our 8th powers: Carly can reveal a person's memories, Sam can peek into the past of certain objects, and I can find people by concentrating on them—like a human GPS. But when we left school at lunchtime and went to tell the twins and Dean before someone at our school noticed us using our powers, the school was on fire and apparently the twins' crushes, Clarence and Conrad, are the sons of one of the Decimators. Conrad had planted a jinx on Whitney and now she's in a coma. And now both the twins know that we're half-bloods who are Gifted, so he must know we're the Gifts, so they could be coming after us any second."

"You mean like right now?" asked Sam, turning around.

They all looked where she was looking and saw the twins there with their wands in their hands.

Spencer immediately cast a shield to block the spell. "Everyone run!" Carly sped away. Freddie jumped onto the highest building in sight and raced off. Sam, still holding up Whitney with her strength, raced up the building opposite Freddie's and ran away. Hilary and Dean and Blondie just ran off in different directions. Finally, Spencer went into chameleon mode and dropped the shield.

Clarence thumped his brother on the back of the head. "You had to follow them when they're with their Guardian. His barriers are impenetrable!"

"Well, if we'd waited any longer, we would've lost them for sure. At least here we had a shot."

"We still lost them. Ilanna, Ian, Mom, and Dad will not be happy about this. And for that matter, neither will Zentor." He dragged his brother off. "Too bad we've gotta face them sometime. And since it was all your fault we lost them, I'm sure they won't be too horribly upset with me."

The gang finally reunited just outside of town.

"We can't go back into Seattle now," said Blondie, "They know we're here. We'll have to go out on the run."

"But Zentor and the Decimators are here," said Hilary, "and we'll for sure have no chance of defeating them if we just leave them here to take over the town."

"But if we stay here, they'll destroy us all," said Spencer, "They already cut it close with Whitney and they know she's weak. They'll finish the job."

Hilary looked at Whitney, still comatose in Sam's arms. She sighed. "OK."

"What about my mom?" asked Freddie.

"I'll be right back," said Carly. In 2 seconds, she was with Freddie's mom.

"What happened?" asked Mrs. Benson. She grabbed Freddie. "Are you OK?"

"I'm fine, Mom!" Freddie said, pushing her off, "But I won't be if you keep up your smothering act and blow our cover and get us all killed."

"What?"

"We'll explain on the way," said Sam, "Come on!" She dragged her off, still holding Whitney.


	9. After Attack

Chapter 9: After Attack

The gang was trudging through the forest.

Carly noticed that Sam, who was still carrying Whitney, was groaning as she walked. "Are you OK, Sam?"

"No. I'm trudging. I didn't know people actually trudged."

"Don't worry," said Hilary, "Maybe we can stop soon and get something to eat."

"Where?" asked Freddie, "Is McDonald's suddenly opening in the forests?"

"Are you forgetting about Sam's cooking power?" asked Dean.

"Sorry. I'm just craving a cheeseburger."

Sam sighed and zapped up a cheeseburger for Freddie.

Freddie shrugged and started eating it. "Thanks."

"Look, the kids are right, we have to stop sometime," said Spencer.

"Well, what if the bad guys come back and try to kill us again?" asked Mrs. Benson.

"I'm their Guardian, I can take care of them."

"Wanna test that theory?" Blondie asked, looking up.

The Decimators were scouting for them. And they'd seen them.

"Uh oh." Spencer looked at the others. "Run." They all obeyed.

The Decimators chased after them.

They just kept running. But since Carly couldn't speed them all off and wasn't gonna leave them, they weren't fast enough to ditch them.

That is, until there came a boy about the kids' age…riding on a horse. He rode up and lifted Sam (who was still carrying Whitney) onto the horse.

Then another boy with the same brown hair and blue eyes came up and pulled Carly and Hilary onto his horse.

"Who are you guys?" asked Sam.

"I'm Darren and that's Davin," said the boy riding the horse she was on, "We're the Raiders. Noticed you were having a little trouble with those Decimators."

"'A little'?"

Carly whirled around and waved her hand, throwing a wave of water at the oncoming Decimators and allowing the Raiders to call up some more horses for the other runaways. She looked at Davin (who was driving the horse she was on in case you didn't know that). "What's with all the horses?"

"What's with the water?"

"You're a Gifted Warlock?"

"For animals. You're a Gifted Witch?"

"I'm a Gift."

Davin pulled over abruptly, making all 3 fall off the horse and into a hidden cave.

Darren came up with the others. "Nice one, bro."

"She says she's a Gift!"

"What?" Darren raced over to her. "Prove it."

"How do I know I can trust you?"

Darren groaned. He looked through the hidden doorway to make sure no one was coming, lit a lantern, and took off his glove to reveal a mark shaped like a dagger.

Blondie's eyes widened. "You 2 are from the Order of the Dagger?"

"Were. Our parents were. We're twins born and bred to fight off the darkness like the Decimators. But thanks to a little…difficulty with our training, we got kicked out after our parents died and are now the protectors of this forest here."

"That's it?" asked Freddie, "You're just protecting a forest?"

"This forest is home to like 50 different magical creatures."

"What is this, _Bambi_?" Sam snapped.

"No, I mean it. There's Nymphs and Fairies and Dryads in this forest. Watch!" He leaned out the door and whistled and a bunch of Fairies flew in.

"Wow!" Carly said, happily. She let a Fairy fly over to her and circle her. "How could we miss this?"

"A lot of people don't know about it," said Davin, "It's a secret forest."

"Seriously, can anyone not say this sounds like something that belongs in _Bambi_?" Sam put in.

Darren groaned, shaking his head. Then he went over to her. "So what's you guys' story? You know, now that you know you can trust us."

"How do we know you're not Decimators that are faking it?"

"Trust me, that's way off."

Sam considered. "Carly?"

Carly grabbed the twins' arms and scanned them. "We're good."

"OK then." Sam told them the whole story.

"Whoa," Davin said when the story was over.

"Yeah," said Hilary.

"So this little sleeping beauty isn't gonna wake up until this Conrad gets down?" asked Darren.

"Correct," said Freddie.

"Hey, hey, wait a minute!" said Hilary, "If she's sleeping beauty, what does that make her twin sister?"

"Beauty?" Davin suggested.

"Oh, thank you."

"Hilary!" Freddie snapped, "Let's just get some sleep!"

The gang instantly made sure to check the perimeters and go to sleep.

But Sam had some other plans…

_With the Decimators…_

Ilanna pinned Conrad to the wall. "You let them get away! Twice!"

"Relax, their powers are still blooming—"

"Which means they'll just get more powerful and could eventually destroy us!"

"Ilanna!" Conrad pushed her off, but she still held him down. "I hexed Whitney Tilden. She's comatose right now, but her soul is trapped in a tortured state. If she does wake up soon, she'll be under my control. If not, she'll be completely insane for the rest of her life anyway."

Ilanna considered this…and let go of him. "Fine. But don't be such an idiot trying to catch those kids next time."

_Sam peeked around the corner._

"We've still got a lot of work to do."

Conrad nodded.

_Sam seized the moment. She sent her astral form after them._

Conrad was knocked over.

_Sam grabbed him and threw him through the window into the forest outside. She jumped after him and pinned him to a tree._

Zentor started to come out but retreated as soon as the sunlight got near him.

Ilanna grabbed a bow and arrow. She raced out there and held it up…

_Sam turned around._

Ilanna fired.

_The bow went right through Sam's stomach._

And it hit Conrad in the back, just shy of his spine.

_Sam smiled. "That'll work." She disappeared._

And awoke back in the cave.

Whitney's eyes fluttered. She woke up. She looked around.

Hilary woke up and looked. "Whitney!" She jumped for her sister.

Whitney pushed her off. "What happened?"

"Conrad's evil, he hexed you."

"Oh…"

"Wait…how'd you wake up—" She turned around and looked at Sam.

Sam smiled. "Might have sent my astral body elsewhere."

Hilary shook her head smilingly.

Whitney started to get up. "How long was I out?"

"About 5 hours."

Dean got up and looked outside. "The sun's going down. If we want to stay off the Decimators' tails, we'll need to keep going at night. They're most powerful at night, it'd be easiest then for them to find us unless we keep moving."

"Then let's go," said Blondie.

And they started out. And the Raiders agreed to go with them, Davin being an animal controller and Darren being a plant manipulator. But little did they know that someone or something else was watching…

A snake hid in the shadows. It slithered off to locate an owl. The 2 animals exchanged…noises, and the owl flew off.

The owl came to the castle Sam's astral body had just crashed into and landed on the ground in the ever fading sunlight. The owl turned into a fairly young dirty blonde woman, who walked through the hole in the wall and into the castle. She found Ilanna tending to Conrad and raced over there. "What happened?"

Ilanna looked at her. "One of the Gifts attacked him. He lost him hold on Whitney Tilden."

She groaned. "OK…" She looked at Conrad. "Don't worry. Your father is off spying on them in snake form. We can easily get them."

Conrad smiled. "Knew I could count on you, Mom."

She flared her skirt and smiled.


	10. Murderous Minxes

Chapter 10: Murderous Minxes

The gang was still trudging through the forest under the moonlight.

"So who exactly put that hex on Whitney here?" Darren asked.

"Conrad Cornerstone," Hilary answered spitefully.

The nearest tree withered and the animals scurried.

Blondie noticed this. "What?"

Darren turned around, his brother following his example. "Conrad Cornerstone? Clarence Cornerstone's twin brother? The sons of Cara and Carlton Cornerstone?"

"Yeah, why?"

"The Cornerstones are a whole family of Animagi."

"What?" Carly asked.

"Animagi, animal-turners," Whitney translated.

"What's wrong with that?" asked Spencer.

"They're all reptilian. That's a sign of evil or tainted blood. And another thing… Ilanna has 2 siblings: Ian Minx, her twin brother—"

"What is with the magic world and all these twins?" Sam cried.

"—and Cara Minx, their little sister."

They got it then.

Hilary processed this. "Ilanna Minx is Clarence and Conrad's aunt?"

Darren and Davin nodded.

"Wow, how'd I miss that?"

"Wait," said Whitney, "If one child in a magic family is Gifted, all of them are. Cara is an Animagus by marriage—"

"Only, she's not reptilian because she's not a blood Cornerstone," Darren pointed out.

"—so Ilanna and Ian must be Gifted, too."

"Correct. Ilanna is a shape-shifter and Ian can read fears. Not to mention to fact that Cara kept the Gift she already had: moon-beams."

"So her animal form must be nocturnal."

"And since she's the only Decimator with 2 Gifts, she and the twins are automatically available for enhancement so Zentor is likely to grant them more abilities."

Whitney sighed. "Well, enough about them, tell us about you."

"What?"

"You seem to know a lot about this."

"Well, our parents being the in the Order of the Dagger and all—"

"Show me your hand."

"What—" Darren took off his right glove and showed her the dagger mark. "There."

"No, the other one."

The twins looked at each other…and darted.

Carly zoomed after them and grabbed them. "Freddie!"

Freddie held out his hands and the left gloves zoomed toward his hands.

Carly examined the twins' left hands to reveal skull and crossbones symbols…the mark of the Decimators.

Hilary looked. "Well, an explanation would be nice at this juncture."

"What if we don't wanna explain—" Davin started. Sam walked up and grabbed a finger. "OW! OK, I'll talk!"

"Davin!" Darren snapped, "You don't give in that easily—" Sam grabbed his finger. "OW! OK, he'll talk!"

Davin groaned. "Our _mom_ was a member of the Order of the Dagger…our Dad was a Decimator." They all looked at the Raiders. "He was sent in to take her down because she was their top warrior. Well, he ended up falling for her and pulling out of the Decimators to join the Order and marry her. Then he found out she was pregnant. He didn't get a chance to see us before the other Decimators tracked him down and killed him. Mom left the Order, hid us here, and… The Decimators finally found her. They never knew she had had kids…so she let them kill her to keep us safe. Nobody ever knew we existed."

Carly let go of their shirts and grabbed their wrists. "They're telling the truth." She let them go.

Darren sighed. "One more thing…our mother's name was Trianna Ross…and our father's name was…Cohen Cornerstone. Carlton Cornerstone's brother."

Hilary reacted instantly. She grabbed him and pinned him to the nearest tree. "You're Clarence and Conrad's cousins."

"Yes, but—"

"Your cousin attacked my twin sister!"

"He is _not_ related to us! Our father denounced his family name the minute he married our mother. And none of us ever looked back."

Hilary considered and finally let him go.

"If anything, the Minxes and Cornerstones are DEAD to us. Definitely not related."

Hilary sighed, looking down.

"I am sorry if that bloodline got your sister in trouble… The important thing is that they don't know where you are. And we never existed to them."

It was definitely unfortunate that the snake named Carlton Cornerstone saw this. He immediately slithered off at full speed and went to the castle, where he turned back to normal and told the whole story to his family and Zentor.

Cara scoffed. "Your stinking little brother left us for a girl and we never knew that she got pregnant? No wonder she let us kill her."

Ilanna looked at her. "Trianna is dead now. We don't have to worry about her." She shook her head. "No, the Gifts, their Guardian, the Gifted, and these boys calling themselves the Raiders…they're what we need to worry about. We need to eliminate them immediately."

"Wait," said Clarence. He looked thoughtful for a minute and then began to smile menacingly. "I think I have an idea…"

_A few hours later…_

The gang finally stopped walking.

Mrs. Benson sighed. "Look…we're all tired…the sun is rising…maybe it's safe for us to stop."

They all agreed and decided to make camp there. Luckily, there was a lake within 25 feet, so they would have no problem getting water, especially if they made use of Carly's elemental ability.

A while later, Hilary was standing by the lake, looking at the water as the moon began to leave the sky.

Davin walked up to her. "Hey."

Hilary looked at him and smiled. "Hey."

At the camp, Blondie was curled up in a blanket.

Spencer walked up to her and sat next to her. "So…cold?"

"Hence the blanket."

Spencer smiled…and scooted closer.

Blondie smiled at him in return and leaned against him.

Across the camp, Mrs. Benson pulled some disinfectant from her bag, sprayed a log, and sat on the log.

Freddie watched this, thinking things over.

Carly walked up. "Something wrong?"

"We kind of rushed my mom into this, didn't we?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Those Decimators that were chasing us in the forest, and the Cornerstone twins earlier, I don't think they knew Mom was my mom. Maybe she's safer at home."

"On it." Carly went over to Mrs. Benson and started to explain things to her.

As Carly walked off, Sam walked up. "Something wrong, Fred-weird?"

Freddie smiled at her. "Just worrying."

"Worry away. I'm not afraid to admit I'm scared, why shouldn't you be?"

Freddie looked at her. "You're scared? _You_?"

Sam nodded. "Look, I…I know I'm always picking on you, but…" She looked around to make sure no one was there and then gestured to him to use his telepathy to read her mind. He did and heard her think: _That kiss we had that one time…it wasn't half bad._

Freddie smiled. _I know._

Sam smiled.

Freddie took her hand. Instantly, he realized what he was doing and pulled away.

Sam looked at him. "Don't bother." She took his hand back.

The 2 smiled at each other.

Meanwhile, Carly rushed back from taking worrywart Mrs. Benson home…and ran at super speed into Dean. "I am so sorry!"

Dean got up from the ground and looked at her. "It's cool. I get knocked over all the time. You should see the twins on their birthdays stampeding for the cake."

Carly smiled.

Dean smiled back. "To be honest, I prefer being knocked over by you."

Carly nodded. "Ditto."

The 2 exchanged some giggles.

Back at the lake, Whitney walked up to the side opposite Hilary. She looked at the water. Then she heard someone walking up behind her. "You're not very sneaky for someone of your bloodline."

Darren half-smiled. "I've been told."

Whitney half-smiled as well and turned to look at him. She sighed and stopped smiling entirely. "We wanted to warn everyone. We wanted to find a way to arm the troops and stop the Decimators before something could happen. Instead, we lost our parents, got me locked in a short-but-almost-deadly coma, and ended up running for our lives. Not very heroic."

Darren walked up to her and gently pushed her hair away from her face. "You couldn't have seen coming what was gonna happen. Even with your magical powers. And trust me…heroic? So overrated."

Whitney half-smiled.

(Miranda Cosgrove's "Adored" plays in background)

Suddenly, a flower popped up at Whitney's feet. It wrapped itself around her and Darren and pressed them together.

"I swear, I didn't do that," Darren joked.

Whitney giggled.

_I'm willing to try this_

_But maybe you're not_

_Maybe we'll like it_

_Let's give it a shot_

Across the lake, Davin was coming onto Hilary. "Come on."

Hilary was backing away, smiling. "No."

"Come on."

"No!"

"Come on!"

"NO!"

Davin finally grabbed her by the waist and yanked her into the water.

_But let's throw ourselves in_

_And get soaking wet_

_Don't just dip our toes in_

_Not yet_

Blondie laid out her blanket on the forest floor and then took another to put over herself while she lay on the first blanket. She used this layout to make herself a bed.

Spencer snuck over to her. "Uh…I don't have a…"

Blondie scooted over in her "bed" to make room for another person and patted said space.

Spencer smiled and crawled in.

_Don't tell me that you're kind of into me_

_'Cause I just wanna be_

_Wanna be_

_Wanna be_

Carly and Dean lay on the forest floor nearby and looked up past the trees at the stars above. They examined the constellations and laughed at each other's fake ones. All the while, they just couldn't stop smiling at each other.

_Adored_

_I need to feel it_

_To know that you mean it_

Freddie and Sam sat next to each other on a log, leaning against each other and staring at the forest floor while they held hands.

_From the bottom of your soul_

_Let me know I'm adored_

_It's not enough for you simply to say it_

Whitney and Darren walked along the shores of the lake, hand in hand as they talked and laughed and looked at the water and the stars.

_Instead of telling me words, let me know_

_That you're positively mine_

_And I'm positively yours_

_For sure_

Hilary and Davin splashed at each other in the water of the lake as the fish in the lake began to surround them, playfully forming the shape of a heart. Hilary noticed this and laughed at Davin, who made a gesture as if he had no idea what they were doing. But Hilary knew they were reading his feelings because of his power over them.

_From the bottom of your heart_

_Let me know I'm adored_

Both twins were happily with their twin companions. And they were quickly realizing some strange and sudden feelings for them.

_I'm willing to show you_

_The thoughts in my mind_

_I'm willing to cut loose_

_The ropes that I tied_

Spencer and Blondie pressed themselves against each other as they drifted off. Obviously, neither had ever done something so PG-rated before but they had no other options at the moment…and they didn't seem to mind.

_So tell me you're ready_

_To dig in the dirt_

_To show me the places_

_Where you have been hurt_

Carly and Dean were still lying on the forest floor, gazing at the stars and forming fake constellations. Carly pointed out a stack of pancakes. Dean pointed out a pig. Carly noticed a palm tree. And Dean noticed one that sort of looked like an angel. To which he quickly and without thinking said "just like you." Carly smiled and shoved him.

_Don't tell me that you're kind of into me_

_'Cause I just wanna be_

_Wanna be_

Freddie and Sam finally got off the log and, not breaking their hold on each other's hands, sat on the ground around it so they could lean their backs on something. But they still held hands. And this time they were staring at each other.

_Adored_

_I need to feel it_

_To know that you mean it_

Whitney and Darren continued to walk along the lakeside, hand-in-hand. Suddenly, Whitney noticed that every plant they passed was bursting vibrantly with life. She realized the burst of life was coming from Darren and smiled, gripping his hand tighter.

_From the bottom of your soul_

_Let me know I'm adored_

_It's not enough for you simply to say it_

Hilary and Davin continued to splash at each other as they swam through the lake. Every fish Hilary passed swam around her joyfully. She smiled at Davin, who continued to play dumb. They both knew it was because he was developing feelings for the troublemaker twin.

_Instead of telling me words, let me know_

_That you're positively mine_

_And I'm positively yours_

_For sure_

Spencer and Blondie feel asleep in each other's arms, without a care in the world.

_From the bottom of your heart_

_Let me know I'm adored_

Carly and Dean continued to look at the stars together. Finally, they inched their hands closer together and gripped them tightly.

_What's the point in settling_

_For less?_

Sam and Freddie continued to stare at each other smilingly and lean against each other for warmth from the cold night air. Even as the night began to drift away, they never grew further from each other.

_What more_

_I wanna win and not come second best_

Whitney and Darren finally stopped walking and sat down on the lakeside, still holding hands, to just simply look at each other. They didn't even notice a flower shooting from the ground and wrapping their hands together.

_So shatter my world_

_Don't matter, no_

_Because I_

_Wanna fall_

_For my own sake_

_It don't matter if I break_

Hilary and Davin got tired of swimming and just waded over to each other. They made their way to the shore, not noticing the fish forming a heart in the center of the lake again.

_You're_

_Gonna be adored_

_By me_

Spencer and Blondie, asleep in the only "bed" in the "camp", began to dream of each other.

_Don't tell me that you're kind of into me_

_'Cause I just wanna be_

_Wanna be_

_Wanna be_

Carly and Dean stopped looking at the fading stars and got up from the forest floor, hand-in-hand, to go watch the sunset at the lakeside.

_Adored_

_I need to feel it_

_To know that you mean it_

Freddie and Sam finally scooted against each other on the dirt ground by the log and began to drift off.

_From the bottom of your soul_

_Let me know I'm adored_

_It's not enough for you simply to say it_

Whitney and Darren began to get closer together…

_Instead of telling me words, let me know_

_That you're positively mine_

_And I'm positively yours_

_For sure_

Hilary and Davin, soaking wet on the lakeside, leaned in…

_From the bottom of your heart_

_Let me know I'm adored_

Carly and Dean, watching the sunrise by the lake, scooted closer…

_(From the bottom of your heart)_

_(From the bottom of your heart)_

_(From the bottom of your heart)_

_(From the bottom of your heart, 'cause…)_

Freddie and Sam, half-asleep, nuzzled against each other…

_(From the bottom of your heart)_

_(From the bottom of your heart)_

_(From the bottom of your heart)_

_(From the bottom of your heart, 'cause…) _

Before any of the couples could make a move, a loud noise came from just beyond the camp. It jolted the twins away from each other, made Carly and Dean jump apart, lurched Freddie and Sam to their feet, and woke up Blondie and Spencer. Everyone went to check it out…and found a group of Decimators collected there, headed by the Cornerstones and the Minxes.

"Good work, boys," Ilanna said, "You led us right to them."

Hilary's eyes widened. She turned to Davin and glared at him harshly. "You didn't!"

Davin looked at her. "I didn't! I'm telling you—"

Hilary wrenched her hand away from him. "Let go of me! I can't believe you!"

Whitney couldn't even rant like her sister was doing. All she could do was stare disbelievingly at Darren.

Before anyone but the twins could make a sane reaction, the Decimators grabbed them and dragged them off. Whitney never once took her eyes off Darren and Hilary continuously kicked and screamed as she was pulled off.

Davin stormed over to Ilanna as the other Decimators left with their friends. "I can't believe you! Why on earth would you do that—"

"To get them away from you," Ilanna explained, "If they don't trust you, you can't help them. Not to mention, those twins seemed to like you. Well, now their spirits are crushed enough to keep that under control."

Darren looked at her. "You're talking like you know us."

Ilanna smirked. "Why wouldn't I? You're my nephews, aren't you?" With that said, she grabbed them both and yanked them off.

As the 2 boys were taken off, the nearby plants wilted and the animals hid.


	11. Fighting Fearlessly

Chapter 11: Fighting Fearlessly

Sam and Hilary banged themselves against the door of the cell they were in. They hoped that with their combined strength, they could break it. No luck.

Freddie finally pulled them off. "It's reinforced by magic. The Decimators charmed so that we can't get out. We have no powers in here!"

Whitney sat tearfully against the corner. "I can't believe it. Darren wouldn't do that—"

"Newsflash, buddy!" said Hilary, "They betrayed us! They saved our lives so the Decimators would find us and then led us on as the icing on the cake! He never even cared about you!"

Whitney looked at her sister through her tears. "But I cared about him."

Hilary groaned. "You knew him for a day! How could you think that—"

"Don't pretend you had no feelings for Davin!"

Hilary said nothing.

Whitney sighed. "I just can't believe this."

Hilary looked at her. "Well, believe it, sis. It's over." She walked over to her sister and sat down next to her.

"So what do we do now?"

"Well, first things first, we have to get over it. No use fighting with a broken heart. Let's just face it: they played us like a couple violins. We're done."

"I can't believe I didn't see something like this coming when I scanned them," said Carly.

"They're pretty powerful, Carls," said Sam, "I imagine their family's rewarding them pretty fiercely right now."

_Meanwhile…_

Ilanna threw Darren and Davin against the wall. "I ought to mutilate you right now. I swore I would never live to let anyone of the Ross family continue on with their miserable lives, especially after how they destroyed my brother-in-law."

"I believe he made his own choice to ditch you," Davin pointed out.

"So you see my point. So you get why I can't let you live through the night." She pulled out a dagger.

Suddenly, Cara flew in as an owl and walked up to Ilanna. "Watch it for a while, sis. Shouldn't we mess with them first? Otherwise, it's no fun."

Ilanna sighed. "You're right." She smiled with an idea (oh, that's never good). "And I think I have just the thing." She went over to a closet and pulled out two white rocks.

"Uh…you're gonna bash our skulls in?" Darren asked.

Ilanna looked at them. "Tempting, but no. These are your Soul-Stones. There's really no way to break them or anything, but they're useful to keep around." She nodded at Cara. "Didn't even know whose they were until now."

Cara took two more rocks of the same kind of the closet. "And I believe these belong to Whitney and Hilary Tilden."

Suddenly, the two pairs of rocks flew into each other and formed two perfect circles.

[Also imagine a picture on each rock of the two couples kissing.]

"And that means you're soul-mates," said Ilanna, "So all we have to do to hurt you is keep hurting them."

Without thinking, Davin sent a spell at her.

Ilanna quickly dodged it. "Nice shot. And it proves my point."

Darren glared at his brother. "Nice going."

Ilanna walked back over to the Raiders. "Now look…Zentor sort of needs the power of a few Gifted Witches and Warlocks to get his whole power back. Obviously, the Gifts and _the _Gifted in there are the icing on the cake. They complete the whole process, piece the ritual together. But nobody says they need to be alive for that to go down."

Darren and Davin instantly turned their attention to her in alarm.

"So here's the deal: you give us your powers now, you get to be with your friends, we'll even tell them the truth; OR, you can choose to leave now and never see them again—better yet, we'll let you leave safely…after you watch them all die."

The Raiders exchanged looks and thought it over. Sure, they could go on living their lives the way they'd been. But it wouldn't be the same. They'd known these girls for 24 hours and they'd already fallen in love and found out that they were soul-mates. What were they supposed to do? Choose their freedom only to suffer for the rest of their lives? Or let them all suffer together but offer the whole world in exchange? Obviously, there were no good choices at this juncture. But there was only one option they could live with.

Darren held out his hands and let his magic flow out. A glowing ball of white energy rested in his hands. He was giving away his power.

Davin looked at his brother and then at his feet to send the message that he was doing the same.

Ilanna smirked. "Well, I would've preferred it the other way, but…fair enough." She pulled out a glowing crystal ball and the Raiders' powers flowed into it.

Darren and Davin fell to the ground, weakened. They were mortals.

Ilanna smiled and held up the crystal ball holding their powers.

Darren pulled himself together to stand up. "Alright. We've got a deal. Pay up."

Ilanna looked at him. "Now why would I do that? This is just getting good. Besides, your friends hate us. Why would they believe it if we told them the truth?"

Before the twins could fight her, two more Decimators came up and grabbed them.

Ilanna shrugged. "Dungeon for now. We'll deal with them later."

The Raiders were dragged off, too weak to fight back.

Ilanna looked into the crystal ball holding the twins' powers.

Cara looked at her sister. "Nice work."

"Good thinking giving me the idea. The more those girls' hate them and the more physical suffering we cause on top of that… Oh, they'll be broken by dawn."

"It's pretty funny, too…they fell in love with those girls in about the same time Cohen and Trianna did."

"Love's a funny thing in the magic world. Goes by pretty fast. Like the fact that there's so many twins! I'm telling you, the 1 in 80 births it takes in the normal world is 1 in 25 here!"

Cara blinked. "What does that have to do with anything?"

"I just think it's weird that there's so many twins: me and Ian, those two, your boys, and the two brats in the other room!"

"OK, we get it!" Carlton walked up. "Let me have a go? They're _my _blood."

Ilanna looked at Cara.

Cara shrugged.

Ilanna looked at Carlton for a second and finally smirked. "Give it a go."

With that, Carlton walked off after his nephews.

Ilanna smiled after him. "There's my boy."

Cara glared at her sister. "_My _boy!"

Ilanna shrugged. "Either way. He's getting into the game. If he breaks those boys further, we might just have a way to get them all out of the way—the Gifted, the Gifts, the Guardian, and the _Raiders_. And then there's nothing standing between us and the world." She cackled.


	12. Losing Love

I am so sorry this is so short and filler-ish. But I wanted to do this chapter and I've gotten entirely blocked on the ending so it might come off...not what I had planned. Anyway, I am also sorry it took SO LONG to get this up but, as I mentioned before, I've been blocked and I've had dental surgery and I had to go to the hospital...to see my new niece (I'M SO GIDDY!). Oh, well, here it is.

Chapter 12: Losing Love

Hilary and Whitney sat in a corner in their cell.

Darren and Davin, meanwhile, were thrown into a cell in the dungeon.

While the two pairs of twins began to cope with their situation, they began remembering their time together.

(Jordan Pruitt's "In Love For a Day" plays in background)

_It was magical_

_Beautiful_

_I didn't know_

_How it all began_

_Hilary laid her head against Davin's shoulder as they went through the forest._

_One day_

_24 hours_

_It didn't turn out_

_How I planned_

_Darren held Whitney close as she was asleep._

_'Cause I did not expect to feel the way_

_The way I do_

_From a single day_

_Whitney and Darren walked through the forest hand-in-hand._

_And both of us, we knew we could not stay_

_You had yours_

_I had mine_

_Separate lives_

_But at least we had the night_

_Hilary and Davin swam through the lake._

_I was in_

_Love_

_For a day_

_Love_

_In a way_

_Love_

_Can't explain_

_Whitney and Darren gazed into each other's eyes as the flowers bloomed around them._

_Why you went away_

_Love_

_It's a shame_

_Love_

_You didn't stay_

_With me_

_Hilary and Davin got close as they were surrounded by fish._

_Unforgettable_

_Incredible_

_I didn't know how to handle it_

Freddie and Sam also looked at each other in the cell, remembering their moments together.

_I was unprepared_

_Maybe a little scared_

_Of something I may never get_

_They held each other close in the woods._

_I was never one to believe_

_Love at first sight_

_Could get to me_

_They fell asleep in each other's arms._

_And maybe if these feelings stay the same_

_I'll be with you again_

_(Someday)_

_But, baby, either way_

_All those months ago, they kissed._

_I was in_

_Love_

_For a day_

_Love_

_In a way_

_Love_

_Can't explain_

Carly looked at Dean, not receiving a look in return from him as he tried to comfort his sisters.

_Why you went away_

_Love_

_It's a shame_

_Love_

_You didn't stay_

_With me_

_They gazed at the stars and laughed together._

_And maybe someday, we will reconnect_

_It was so powerful, I can't believe it's over yet_

_The way you play back in my mind makes it hard to forget you_

_(You, you)_

Blondie lay on the floor, practically in tears. Spencer tried to comfort her.

_I know you_

_Have your life_

_And I got mine_

_But someday, maybe we'll re-collide_

_But until then_

_Baby, I know_

_(I know)_

_They fell asleep in each other's arms._

_I was in_

_Love_

_For a day_

_Love_

_In a way_

_Love_

_Can't explain_

Hilary looked at the wall, intent on not showing her true emotions.

_Why you went away_

_Love_

_It's a shame_

_Love_

_You didn't stay_

_(You didn't stay)_

_With me_

Whitney just examined a flower in her hand, holding back tears.

_(If you hear me)_

_(If you hear me, holler)_

Davin leaned against the wall, practically hitting his head against it.

_(Hey-hey-yeah)_

_(If you hear me)_

_(If you hear me, holler)_

Darren lay on the floor nearby, brooding his troubles away.

_Love_

_In a way_

_Love_

_Can't explain_

Finally, Hilary groaned and lay there. Nothing could make this better.

_Why-Why you went away_

_Love_

_It's a shame_

_Love_

_You didn't stay_

_With me_

Whitney fingered the flower, only for petals to fall off. _He loves me not. _She dropped the flower to the ground and buried her face in her knees.

_(With me)_

_(With me)_

_(With me)_

_(With me…) _

Darren and Davin looked at each other.

"I always did have a thing for brunettes," Davin finally smirked.

Darren just gave him a half-smile in reply.

"Some 'warriors of the light' we are. Couldn't even protect ourselves. …couldn't even protect the women we…think are sort of cool."

Darren shook his head. "Right, for girls."

Suddenly, the door behind them opened, letting Carlton Cornerstone walk in.

"And now we're dead," Davin groaned, realizing who it was immediately.

"Oh, I'm not gonna kill you," Carlton responded, "On the contrary…" He snapped up an image portal and tossed it into the cell at them. "…I'm giving you boys a front row seat to me killing your girlfriends." He smirked and walked off. "_Then_, you'll die, knowing it was all your fault."


	13. Spell Switch

Chapter 13: Spell Switch

Darren thought fast. "'Front row seat…' You know what?" He quickly flipped over, knocking Carlton against the wall. "I'd rather be courtside." He then pinned him to the wall. "Davin, now!"

Davin rolled over and up…snatching Carlton's neck with his ankles and snapping it in a turn before landing back on his feet. "Grab his stuff, I'll get the door."

Darren nodded and started to work.

Davin stopped at the door. "So I guess we've done murder."

Darren looked at his brother sadly and started off. "Let's not think about that at a time like this."

Davin nodded. "Right…we'll think about it tomorrow." He then opened the door and started to lead his brother off.

"You didn't have to kill him."

"Hey! You told me to!"

"Those weren't my exact words."

Meanwhile, Ilanna threw the other captives to the floor of a darkened room. "Alright, let's get this over with." She held up a knife.

"Wouldn't it just be easier for everyone to NOT TRY TO KILL US?!" Freddie demanded, trying to back out.

Ian kicked him down first. "If I were you, I'd stop talking…like five minutes ago."

Carly then noticed a familiar scene…familiar from a vision.

A yellow circle drawn in the center of the floor, a star etched in blood within it, and a man draped in a cloak lying there in the middle of it.

That much told Carly just who he was. _…Zentor…_

What no one there knew was that someone was creeping through the shadows…

Ilanna held up the knife…and it suddenly flew from her hand into one of the Decimators.

There stood Mrs. Benson. She quickly knocked back the Decimators blocking her path and rushed to the kids.

"Mom, what are you doing here?" Freddie asked as his mother undid his restraints.

"Saving you! Now stand back!" She started fighting again but a couple Decimators quickly held her back. "Freddie!" Mrs. Benson tossed over her weapon.

Freddie quickly utilized it to take out three of the Decimators. He then examined it. "My mom carries a gun?"

The kids then began to use their powers to their advantage.

Carly began taking the Decimators out with blasts of fire, water, air, electricity, and rocks and plants. She sped up in circles around them to form vortexes that suffocated them. She drew her heart into a weapon and attacked them in bursts of light. She calmed them so much that they passed out. And she cast illusions of herself that confused them and gave her a chance to take them out.

Sam threw every heavy object at them she could. She blew up the walls and caused the bricks to knock out several Decimators at once. She animated characters from stuff she'd seen on TV that gladly helped in the fight. She dodged attacks by climbing up the walls and then fell on top of Decimators to beat them up. And she made herself look like a Decimator and then sent VERY hot chili flying at them.

Freddie also threw every heavy object at them that he could, only telekinetically. He summoned elephants and tigers and vipers to fight with them. He conjured up the strongest weapons he could and utilized them as best he could, his mom using her gun as well and some old fencing skills. He telepathically determined their moves and took them out through such. And he jumped out of the way of every attack, landing on them.

Spencer protected the gang as best he could with his shields and such.

Whitney took stars from the sky and threw them as sharp blades at every Decimator in her range.

Hilary used the screech to deafen them and knock them out.

Dean tossed spells every which way, doing all sorts of crazy stuff with them.

And Blondie used her beams to their best extent, electrifying countless Decimators with the others.

It was into this that Darren and Davin came in. They quickly started using their fighting skills to help out.

"What are you doing here?!" Hilary demanded on seeing them, fighting the urge to screech or zap them (against her better judgment, actually).

"We had nothing to do with the Decimators!" Davin cried as he rushed over to her, "They attacked us even more than you…until now. They took our powers!"

"Oh, and you let them!"

"Yes! …to save you."

She looked at him in shock.

Suddenly, Ian got on his feet and jumped Mrs. Benson, knocking her into the wall and sending her gun flying at the opposite end of the room…where a certain power containment/deflection device stood.

Darren saw the seer's orb and his eyes widened with an idea. "The crystal ball!" he cried to Whitney, "Smash it!"

Whitney looked at him. "How do I know I can trust you?!"

He quickly grabbed her and kissed her.

When she finally parted, she gazed into his eyes. "That wasn't fake, was it?"

"You're the one with the Witch's sense…you tell me."

She smiled. She then rushed through her way to the crystal ball, snatched it, and threw it to the ground. Suddenly, the power was coursing out and into the Raiders.

Darren smirked. "Now that's more like it." He and his brother then started sending animals and plants at the Decimators.

Finally, they were all dealt with…

Until Ilanna quickly knocked down all 11 of them with a single burst of magic, pinning them down to the floors and walls, powerless. "You thought it'd be that easy? Really? Zentor and I knew you would put up a fight. So we pulled up a backup plan. Ian?"

Her twin brother smirked and walked up to her.

She grabbed his hand and held it up. "It's simple really: channel himself through us and then none of the three of us can be killed. I'd like to see you stop that."

Darren then noticed the Benson's gun lying on the floor, still carrying a few more shots, and quickly slid it over to the one person in the room who had the clear shot: Whitney.

Unfortunately, Ilanna saw this and quickly grabbed her leverage: Hilary. "So here it is. When your worst enemies have their way and there's nothing you can do about it without hurting the ones you love most…what do you do?"

Hilary looked at her twin sisters from her binds and made a quick gesture with her right hand.

Whitney knew what it meant: "What they least expect."

Shoot the hostage.

Without giving it a second thought, she shot Hilary in the arm. While the bad guys processed this, she took the next shot: straight at the link between Ilanna and Ian.

The two tore apart.

Hilary quickly grabbed Ilanna with her working arm and threw her into Ian.

Giving Whitney the last shot: right into Zentor.

Perfect shot.

Suddenly, the evil beast cried out in agony, a deafening growl that leaked with darkness. The cloak collapsed to reveal his true image: pale and scraggly, eyes black as pitch, a face from a nightmare, and an appearance of pure shadow. "I will destroy you all!" He started to get up…only for his hands to start crumbling. Suddenly, his entire body was decaying and falling apart piece by piece. Finally, all that was left was the cloak and dust.

Ilanna and Ian lay there, unconscious and shattered. Darren and Davin quickly tossed the restraints of the spell to them, making sure they didn't go anywhere until the Witch authorities came for them.

Whitney just examined the gun in her hand. "Who says mortals and their gadgets can't get the job done right?"


	14. Family Fortune

Chapter 14: Family Fortune

_Two nights later…_

Hilary sighed as she walked into her house again, her injured arm in a sling and her other holding an ice pack to her head. "Why couldn't we just heal this stupid thing?"

"Why can't you just stop complaining about it and sit down and stay still so we can?" her twin sister retorted.

"I just can't believe you shot me!" Hilary snapped as she walked off and plopped down on the couch.

Whitney smirked. "Hill…you told me to."

"Those weren't my exact words."

Davin smirked at his brother as the girls set off to work, calling Spencer and Carly over to do the actual healing. "Yup, they're perfect for us."

Whitney then turned to look back at the Raiders. "So? What do you say?"

"Well, we'll sure miss living in the woods in the middle of nowhere," Darren sighed.

"Really?" Hilary asked skeptically.

"No! Of course we're moving in with you!"

Blondie smirked. "Good, we can finally put something in the basement. I was worried I was gonna be living there."

Spencer looked at Blondie. "About that…" He sighed. "Look, Blondie…I've never met anyone like you. I think I really…_love _you." He smiled. "And I wanna be with you." He then shocked everyone. He got down on one knee and held out a ring. "Will you marry me?"

Blondie answered by pouncing on him and kissing him.

He looked at her. "Is that a yes?"

"Yes!"

"Wow," Sam smirked, "That was sudden and unexpected."

"But a long time coming," Freddie added on.

Sam just made a "you've got a point there" gesture.

Then they found themselves looking at each other.

"So, uh…" Freddie started.

Sam nodded. "…so…"

Mrs. Benson suddenly sighed. "Oh, for crying out loud, Freddie, just kiss the girl already!"

Freddie looked at her in shock. "Mom?!"

"I'm overprotective, not an idiot."

Freddie just looked at Sam.

Sam smirked. And kissed him.

"Well, it's about time," Carly smirked.

"Tell me about it," Dean nodded.

The two then found themselves exchanging looks.

"So, uh…" Dean smiled. "You wanna maybe…go out sometime? Since, you know, the world's not ending?"

Carly laughed. "I think that sounds like fun."

Whitney just watched the couples. After they were all done, she sighed dramatically. "Well! Spencer and Blondie are engaged…Sam and Freddie are together…Carly and Dean are dating…and here I am with my twin sister…all alone—"

"OH, FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!" Once Hilary's arm was back to normal, she used it to grab Davin and pull him in to kiss him.

Whitney blinked in shock. "…eh." Then did the same with Darren. She smiled as they parted. "I get the feeling this is gonna be a happily ever after."

"Don't I know it," Darren smirked before kissing her again.

_Meanwhile…_

It was dark. There were no signs of life.

But there were signs of magic.

The magic was coming together, forming itself into a dark force. "It's not over," a demonic voice rasped through the darkness, "It's never over. AAAAHHHHHH!"

**THE END…?**

IT'S DONE! Sorry this last chapter was so short, but it still said what I needed it to say and there was really no way for me to lengthen it. As to the ending, I was going to do a sequel (I was even making plans for three sequels) but I realized that this story was complete and I had no idea how to continue it. Plus, I have like a thousand other stories to do and no time to weigh myself down with random singles at the moment. Well, thanks for reading this one, hope you enjoyed, review and all that. Thank you and good night everybody!


End file.
